บท 44: Angie
Despite Jim being arrested by the local sheriff, Nicolas still managed to serve the food without horribly burning it. We all sat around the fire and ate our food in silence, which was the exact opposite of what kind of meal we had the night before. I'll be the first to admit that without Josh or Jim around to push things forward, there were not a lot of people who wanted to speak. The shooting and arrest also kind of bummed a lot of people out, and that had to be considered as well to explain the current mood. I could only imagine how the boss felt, as this was clearly not the kind of weekend Mr. Parsons wanted to have. He wanted to see a friendly exchange of ideas to evaluate people by and instead of got chaos and was no closer to picking someone for the job that was recently vacated. It was clear to everyone that Rachel wasn't happy about what had happened, and both Mr. Parsons and his wife were trying to reassure her things would be alright.
"I've left several messages with my lawyer," Mr. Parsons would remind her. "We'll get him out as soon as we can and I'm sure the charges will be dropped."
"He's right," Nicholas said, trying to act supportive. "Once they realize the cat attacked first, no D.A. will want to waste their time on this. They'll totally dismiss."
"Thanks for that," Rachel said, as she barely touched her food. "I suppose you're right."
"He is right," Mrs. Parsons concurred, "But the sheriff has to do his job, it's not his discretion to ignore the law but just apply what's in the books. We'll make sure this goes away."
"Thank you," Rachel said, as she stood up. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat. I'm going to head to bed."
"So soon?" Mr. parsons asked, but he wasn't entirely surprised considering the events and the excitement that had already occurred. Jimbo's cat shooting as well as his arrest for it seemed to kill any chance he had of trying to pick their brains again. He clearly had chosen not to try again afraid to get the same rejection as the night before.
"We might as well call it a night," Mrs. Parson said, as she was feeling rather tired herself.
"I suppose so," Mr. Parsons said, signaling his surrender to what everyone else was thinking.
I watched as most of the people sitting around the fire slowly disburse. When most of them were gone, Nicholas and I were the only two left.
"Still awake?" I asked him.
"A bit," Nicholas said, "I'm also very comfortable here, so I'd rather not move until I absolutely have to."
"Is this weekend pretty much a bust?" I asked him, eager to get his views.
"It might be," Nicholas said, smiling at the thought. "Might serve him right for trying to do something this underhanded to begin with. If he was more open about it, I doubt it would have been as confrontational as it turned out to be."
"I think our better halves had more to do with that," I reminded him.
"That is true," Nicholas conceded, "They are both rather outspoken and not afraid to show it."
"They did appear to be in their element, didn't they." I said, even laughing a bit. "I hope Josh is doing alright."
"Oh, I'm sure he's fine." Nicholas said, even pouting about it. "He's indoors with a soft bed to lay on. And he's got a fridge full of leftovers. I wish I was back there too."
"That makes two of us," I agreed, wishing I was still with him. "Knowing my luck he's having a great time and is writing another bestseller."
"Wouldn't doubt it," Nicholas said, "He's doing rather well with those, isn't he?"
"Just a bit," I said, not hesitant to brag, "He's been doing rather well and feeding off his current successes rather than let it go to his head."
"I can only imagine what kind of writing this weekend inspired," Nicholas said, "I want a cut if our story ends up making him more millions."
"Josh is very big on profit sharing," I said, "He would want to show his appreciation if something like that were to happen."
"Good to hear," Nicholas said, saying nothing more on the subject.
We both sat there in silence for a while, staring at the first as it lost its breath over time and started to dwindle down. Neither of us had the energy or the eagerness to toss anything into it to keep it going knowing that we'd both be heading for our tents soon, so there was no point. When it started to die rather low, I picked myself up and said goodnight to Nic before shuffling off for my tent. I was so tired from the walk that I didn't care who was the last person at the fire. Contrary to what impression we were given, there was no competition anymore and I didn't feel like staying up longer than I had to. Yet when I unzipped my tent, there was someone in there that I wasn't expecting. Rachel had moved her sleeping bag and stuff into my tent and had taken up the right had side of it without even asking me. A part of me wanted to flip out and tell her off but I didn't have the energy. Another part of me was confident that she was still upset about what happened to Jim and just didn't want to be alone. Considering that Josh wasn't here either, I could understand how she felt. Rachel was already asleep so I just moved over to what side of the tent was left and into my own sleeping bag. As long as she didn't snore, I could put up with her for a few hours...
"Angie?" Rachel softly whispered.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"You don't mind sharing, do you?" Rachel asked.
"Depends on what is being shared." I answered, "Tents I don't mind, but not my men. I didn't want to sleep alone either so I don't mind."
"Alright," Rachel said, rolling over. "Goodnight."
"Night," I said, before rolling over to my own side.
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